E3 - Electronics Entertainment Expo Wiki Guide

E3 2010

Microsoft's E3 presentation was focused on selling the concept behind Kinect. It showed off several good reasons to look forward to Kinect, including Dance Central and Kinectimals (alongside several bad reasons), a redesigned console, and had tons of announcements, exclusive games, and great game demos.

Halo, Gears and Fable were in tow, the Kinect app functionality was very impressive, and a few of the casual games didn't look half bad either. Also, demos for Halo Reach, Metal Gear Solid Rising, Fable III, and Gears of War 3 impressed audiences in the press conference auditorium.

Microsoft also announced a partnership with ESPN to bring TV sports content to the platform.

Sony's press conference was led by the memorably Kevin Butler (the phony Sony exec in those PlayStation commercials) and focused on the PlayStation Move motion controllers and 3D presentations of their major titles, including Motorstorm Apocalypse and Killzone 3.

On the E3 show floor, SOCOM 4 was running with the Move, looking good and showing how easy it was to paint air strike targets with your controller. Meanwhile, Heavy Rain was showing off a new Move-only control scheme that most seemed to agree felt cool, Capcom was letting people shoot not-zombies in the head with PlayStation Move, and people were getting down with Start the Party.

During Sony's press conference, the company took some time to talk about the PSP, but the majority of that time was spent showcasing the portable's new ad campaign. Sure, Sony touched on Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker's recent release and mentioned the return of Kratos in God of War: Ghost of Sparta, but the segment was over in a jiff. Sony confirmed Patapon 3 at the conference, but only in a sizzle reel – there was no big announcement or demo.

The PSP got a brief mention during the conference, but then some stellar games were out on the show floor -- the aforementioned God of War, Patapon 3, Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep, Hot Shots Tennis: Get a Grip, Gravity Crash Portable, and so on.

E3 was all about sequels for PlayStation -- Infamous 2, Killzone 3, LittleBigPlanet 2, God of War: Ghost of Sparta, Patapon 3 and MotorStorm Apocalypse.
Nintendo wasted absolutely no time getting into the good stuff with its 2010 press conference, debuting a new trailer for The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword right out of the gates. We had learned that the game was in development in 2008. In 2009 we got a single piece of concept art. But now, finally, here was the game in motion. We saw Link's new art-style, a sort-of fusion between Wind Waker's cel-shading and Twilight Princess' more realistic take on the character. We saw new items in action, and classic items used in new ways. We got the name -- Skyward Sword -- which we didn't previously know. It was a wonderful way to begin.

Some supporting titles quickly followed, with the athletic compilation action of Mario Sports Mix and Wii Party. Third-party studios got into the mix with titles like Just Dance 2, a sequel to Ubisoft's unexpected hit from the previous holiday season. Then the full-on Wii-exclusive remake of N64 classic GoldenEye 007. And then Epic Mickey, yet another Wii-exclusive that sought to reboot Disney's classic mouse with a bit more grit and attitude.

The Big N volleyed out two more major franchise announcements that no one predicted -- Kirby's Epic Yarn, the first home console Kirby game in ages, and Donkey Kong Country Returns, developed by Retro Studios. This was when we longtime fans started feelings like kids locked overnight in a candy store, and yet the day still wasn't done. We hadn't even seen the 3DS yet.

And then we did -- introduced by none other than Kid freaking Icarus. Kid Icarus Uprising looked just as good as a Wii game, if not better, and let everyone watching know the new handheld was going to be no slouch in graphics prowess. Then the details of the hardware filtered in -- what it looked like, its 3D photography capability, its download capabilities. A laundry list of great software in production rolled out, like Metal Gear, Mario Kart and Professor Layton. This was beginning to look like one of the best Nintendo conferences ever.

And then, to top it all off, over one hundred 3DS units then appeared in the hands of models walking out into the audience to share the new tech face-to-face.